One Good Turn begins with a fender bender turned into an apparent act of road rage in front of a crowd of people outside a theater festival in Edinburgh. Among the onlookers is retired detective Jackson Brodie (first introduced in
Case Histories), mystery novelist Martin Canning, who disrupts the assault, and Gloria Hatter, the bitter wife of an unfaithful real estate developer. These three characters as well as others are drawn into a circle of intrigue, each character hiding a secret or wishing for an escape, until the intersection of all these mysteries occurs, bringing the story full circle.
One Good Turn has received mostly positive reviews with The Guardian saying, "But the pleasure of
One Good Turn lies in the ride, in Atkinson's wry, unvanquished characters, her swooping, savvy, sarcastic prose and authorial joie de vivre."
